Federal Ground: Governing Property and Violence in the First U.S. Territories

Federal Ground depicts the haphazard and unplanned growth of federal authority in the Northwest and Southwest Territories, where power rested with the pre-existing inhabitants. Residents sought to obtain rights under federal law, with two areas of governance proving particularly central: contests over property and struggles over the right to use violence. Federal officials improvised ad hoc methods to arbitrate claims, insinuating federal authority deeper into territorial life. Statehood offered former territorial citizens the most effective way to make claims on the federal government.

Format: Hardback
Length: 354 pages
Publication date: 30 July 2021
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

The expansion of federal power in the Northwest and Southwest Territories, the first U.S. territories established under the new territorial system, is vividly depicted in the Federal Ground. The nation's foundational documents, particularly the Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance, placed these territories under sole federal jurisdiction and established federal officials to govern them. However, despite their apparent paper authority, these officials rarely exerted control over events or determined outcomes. In practice, power in these contested borderlands rested with the diverse Native peoples, French villagers, and Anglo-American settlers who had already established themselves in the regions. These residents, despite their allegiance to the new federal government, sought to assert their ownership, jurisdiction, protection, and federal funding, seeking rights under federal law.

Two areas of governance proved particularly central to this dynamic: contests over property, where multiple sources of title created conflicting land claims, and struggles over the right to use violence, where customary borderlands practices intersected with the federal government's effort to establish a monopoly on force. Over time, as federal officials improvised ad hoc, largely extrajudicial methods to arbitrate residents' claims, they gradually insinuated federal authority deeper into territorial life. This authority persisted even after the former territories became Tennessee and Ohio: although these new states spoke a language of equal footing and autonomy, statehood offered former territorial citizens the most effective means yet to make claims on the federal government.

In short, while the federal government could not always dictate the outcome in the territories, it set the terms and language of debate that would shape subsequent discussions on authority and governance. The Federal Ground serves as a valuable lens through which to examine the complex and evolving relationship between the federal government and the territories it governed, highlighting the challenges and complexities of managing a nation's expansion into new territories.

Weight: 672g
Dimension: 165 x 244 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780190905699